When Penny Meyer saw flashing lights in her rear view mirror as she drove from an open house last summer, she quickly surmised why she was being pulled over: “Too many balloons in the car?” she asked the police officer. “No, turn signal,” he laughed. He soon realized he had pulled her over in front of one of her listings. “Wow! That’s you on the sign!” he said. Three months later, Penny sold the officer a home in McKinney.

It’s been that kind of career start for the Oklahoma native, who in less than two years has already notched 35 closings, five of them in a single day. She’s already accumulating recognition, too. She was named a 2017 Top Rookie for Keller Williams, Allen; she earned a Top 20 Percent accolade and the Double Gold Medallion Award. Additionally, she serves on the Agent Leadership Council in her office.

After a 12-year teaching career in secondary science and math, plus time as an Allen School District testing coordinator, the empty-nester started working in real estate part-time, match-making buyers with homes. She instantly fell in love with the industry. “It was a perfect fit.” Although her master’s degree in educational administration positioned her for a job as a principal, she’s thankful it never happened. “I never realized this would become my dream career,” Penny says.

An eight-and-a-half year career in pharmaceutical sales didn’t hurt, either. Or the small business she operated at an antique mall. “I’ve been [selling antiques] since [my sons] were young,” she says, explaining she first ran a small business on the square in McKinney and now is involved with a newer venture in Bonham. Penny discovered selling antiques provided directly relevant training for real estate. “The negotiation process that’s involved in selling antiques is honestly one of the best systems I’ve used to negotiate prices and repairs and things like that,” she says. “It’s been one of my best tools.”

Her varied career also has helped her connect with clients. “That’s been one thing that’s very helpful,” Penny says. “Some of my clients have been CEOs of companies. And then I even had an exotic dancer as one of my clients. She actually saw me on realtor.com on a listing. She called me, and we met and shopped for homes. She was very grateful and appreciative of my time and efforts.”

Penny insists there’s no such thing as a frustrating transaction-- some just require “working out the issues to get them solved. It’s having to have a little more patience with some than others,” she says. “I’ve had a lot of practice-- I was a teacher.” Frustration, if any, comes with being so busy while still wanting to provide the best service to everyone.

But help has arrived. Penny recently hired a licensed executive assistant to enable her to expand the practice. Penny also meets quarterly with a marketing expert who is helping her develop her brand: Nest Real Estate Group. “We’re helping you land your perfect nest,” Penny explains. “I relate to my home as my nest and want my business to help others achieve the same.”

“I dedicated myself to come in and treat this as my profession, which it is,” Penny quickly adds. “And so I came in every day, almost, my first year, to take classes here and to expand my knowledge, to ask lots of questions, to really take advantage of everything that’s offered.”

Penny has other passions, as well. She loves to read and spend time with family and friends. Travelling energizes her, and she tries to schedule one trip abroad each year. Thanks to an interest in photography, her own European travel portraits adorn the office walls. “Paris is always a good idea,” Penny says, laughing. Closer to home, the Meyer’s Bonham lake house has provided years of family memories, as well as fresh herbs and flowers from the garden there.

The Meyers moved to north Texas 21-years-ago from Georgia, where Penny met her husband, now a packaging engineer for Frito-Lay. They moved to be closer to family, and to Dallas, where Penny had always wanted to live.

“We’ve lived in the same home for 21 years. Allen has probably tripled in population since we moved here. It’s a great city; it has grown in the right way,” she says. “It’s just a very close-knit population. We moved here when [my sons] were 6 months and 2 years old.”

A typical day for Penny starts around 5:30 a.m. With several buyers, she studies new listings first, then heads to the office around 8:00 a.m. to work on active transactions. She tries to fit in two or three training classes per week and takes personal time in the afternoon.

“The past three weeks I’ve worked 70 hours a week, because I’ve had three sets of buyers, two from out of town,” she says. “So, I was showing homes until I couldn’t get into homes anymore.” In the evenings, she’d work on offers and contracts.

Penny’s clients come from a variety of sources: referrals, longtime friends, open house prospects, word-of-mouth from past clients, signs, office walk-ins, phone calls, and her website. “I have plenty of business at the moment. I’m really happy,” Penny says. And then after briefly reflecting, she repeats, “I’m really happy.” Not a surprising sentiment from a successful new agent, who even attracts clients during minor traffic violations.